After long mangling: Agree on crisis fund

 

COP27 Climate meeting over - weak writings on emissions 

 

By: TT 

 

Published: Today 00.44 

 

Updated: Less than 50 min ago 

 

 

 

Simon Stiell, UN climate chief, applauds after the meeting agreed on a final document. 1 of 2 Photo: Peter Dejong/AP/TT 

 

NEWS 

 

The climate meeting COP27 has hammered through an overall final document. 

 

Among other things, the countries have agreed on a fund for countries that are severely affected by climate change. 

 

That is exactly what is welcomed - but the writings about emission reductions are met with strong disappointment. 

 

When the injury and loss fund was hammered through early on Sunday morning, the sleepy delegates applauded themselves. 

 

- After three long decades, we have finally delivered climate justice, said Seve Paeniu, finance minister of Tuvalu, one of the island nations threatened by rising sea levels. 

 

The fund has been one of the more attention-grabbing points at the climate meeting, where the idea is that richer countries should pay poorer countries for damages caused by climate change. However, much is still unclear about the structure of the fund, who will be allowed to take part in it and how much money it will contain. 

 

Richer countries have long ducked the issue for fear of having to take responsibility for historic emissions, and just agreeing to put the issue on the official agenda for COP27 was seen as a breakthrough. The fact that the fund has now also gone through is received with joy from many countries. 

 

- This is the culmination of 30 years of work and the beginning of a new chapter in the pursuit of climate justice. A ray of hope for the countries most affected by climate-related loss and damage, Pakistan's chief negotiator Nabeel Munir told The Guardian. 

 

"Important step" 

 

Another person who was satisfied with the issue of a climate fund was the UN Secretary General. 

 

- The COP has taken an important step towards justice. I welcome the decision, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a video, adding: 

 

- It is clearly not enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild the damaged trust. The voices of those on the front lines of the climate crisis must be heard, he says. 

 

But at least as great as the joy over the fund is the disappointment of many countries that COP27 did not sufficiently address the root of the problems – emissions. 

 

- Our planet is still in an emergency situation. We must reduce emissions drastically now, and this is an issue where this climate meeting did not reach, says António Guterres. 

 

Are disappointed 

 

The agreement contains wording that is in line with the Paris Agreement's ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. But several countries had wanted to see writings about stronger commitments to get there. Nor are previously agreed formulations regarding the phasing out of coal extended to also include gas and oil. 

 

This particular issue is said to have been debated until the very end and caused particularly great outrage among the Europeans, AP writes. 

 

- The EU came here to agree on strong writings and we are disappointed that this did not succeed, says EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, who calls on all countries to do more: 

 

- We have all failed with the measures to avoid damage and losses. Citizens expect us to take the lead with a significantly faster rate of emission reductions. 

 

Weak pulse 

 

Frustration was also great from the German side: 

 

- It is more than frustrating that the steps to reduce and phase out fossil fuels are blocked by a number of large emitters and oil producers, says Germany's Annalena Baerbock. 

 

Britain's chief negotiator, Alok Sharma, lists in a statement several areas where he believes clear commitments are missing from the agreement. 

 

- Friends, in Glasgow (where COP26 was held last year) I said that the pulse of the 1.5 degree target was weak. Unfortunately, it is still under life-sustaining treatment, says Sharma. 

 

Facts

 

UN climate summit 

 

The UN climate summit COP27 was held in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt during November. Representatives from all over the world have gathered to discuss and negotiate how the global climate work under the Paris Agreement should be implemented. 

 

The meeting was supposed to be held between November 6 and 18, but went into overtime when no agreement was reached. Early in the morning on Sunday, November 20, the news came that a final document had been hammered through. 

 

In the Paris Agreement of 2015, most of the world's countries agreed to keep the increase in the global average temperature well below 2 degrees, and most preferably below 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial times. 

 

But the countries' plans to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases are far from sufficient to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, according to a compilation that the UN climate secretariat UNFCCC has made of all climate plans ahead of the meeting. If the plans are followed, the world is instead headed for around 2.5 degrees of warming before the end of the century.